Data driven policies to reduce youth binge drinking for 16 to 20 year-olds

Santa Cruz County has high rates of binge drinking among youth, higher than California overall. In 2005, 30% of Santa Cruz County high school juniors reported binge drinking, compared with 23% of juniors in California. A collaborative of over 110 organizations called Project CURB was formed to combat this problem.

As CURB's research partner, Applied Survey Research (ASR) piloted a unique methodology by training youth to survey other youth about their binge drinking behaviors. The method included youth from local public, private, and alternative high schools, local colleges, and homeless youth, providing a diverse sample not surveyed by other California studies. The CURB Youth Survey revealed that 47% of youth reported bingeing in the past 30 days while 66% binged in the past year.

Most youth (73%) accessed alcohol from adults they knew, including friends over 21, older siblings/relatives, and from home with or without parental knowledge. GIS mapping revealed “hot spots” where bingeing occurred within the county, allowing CURB to target interventions and identify community partners, including elected officials and community-based organizations. The data have driven policy, leading to noise ordinances, a proposed social host ordinance, a media campaign highlighting adult provision, collaboration with the local university, new ways of working with police around enforcement of existing laws, trainings for merchants, and well-publicized merchant awards honoring businesses that enforce alcohol distribution laws. New youth survey data will be available in Spring 2007, and will be used to evaluate the impact of these interventions.